The pandemic will pass. Better days will come. We will be able to be together without fear, according to President Stevo Pendarovski in a holiday letter extending his New Year’s wishes to citizens. “In 2021, I wish you good health, only good health, so that we can fulfill all our wishes,” Pendarovski writes.

According to the President, 2020 was one of the most difficult years since the Macedonian independence.

“We spent it in constant tension between fear and hope,” he writes. “We feared for our health and lives. We were also worried about the economy, about jobs; many personal and professional plans were postponed. But, most tragically of all, many human lives were lost.

“The pandemic has shown how vulnerable we are as humans. At the same time, it exposed many systemic weaknesses that are a source of social inequality and injustice.”

He notes that the pandemic amplified social inequality and injustice in many other places in the world.

“However, in all that pain and fear we went through, we still had reasons for hope. That hope was given to us by our heroes, the health workers, who daily, selflessly fight for the health and life of every patient, even on New Year’s Eve.”

“We cannot know for sure what awaits us in the year ahead,” the letter continues.

“But, in this time of uncertainty, one thing is certain. The crisis is changing us all, gradually, every day, and it is up to us whether we will emerge from it divided and indifferent or united and in solidarity.”

Every good deed, according to Pendarovski, leaves a great mark on the people we have helped and cared for.

Looking forward to the end of the pandemic, he reminds citizens that “we must not forget the hard lessons we have learnt.”

“We must be systematically prepared for the next crisis, we must recover the economy, we must eradicate injustice, we must overcome divisions, we must heal these wounds,” the President writes.

“We all deserve much more joy and happiness!” he adds, wishing everyone good health in 202